Hello readers! This is a HaruRin story, if ya don't like HaruRin don't read. If ya like MakoHaru more, don't read. If ya don''t like yaoi, don't fucking read please! But, I do like criticism of my work as long as it's constructive, so feel free to leave reviews!

Ah btw, I don't own Free! or the characters. I'm just making them have sex. That's all. (^^)

Chapter 1: The meeting of a Predator

A soft sigh from pale lips sent bubbles racing to the surface of the cool liquid that encased his body. It flowed fluidly and quickly though his body felt warm and heavy while he watched the orbs with eyes that matched his vibrant blue surroundings. He still felt the dregs of sleepiness weigh down on his eyelids that lazily drift in a half-mast expression while the stagnant water blocked the path to his hearing. He stared at his plain white ceiling, seeing the light dance upon the distorted surface of his bath water and felt his airways start to burn and constrict—a sad sign that he had to leave his peaceful place. Though it wasn't the same as being in a pool, it satisfied him enough to give him the patience to wait until after school for swim practice. There he would see Rei, Nagisa and—

"Haru!" Ah there was his alarm clock again. The sound of his best friend's unclear words through the deafening silence of the water was usually the time he had to get out. Though he couldn't exactly hear what he said, Haruka knew enough that he always said the same thing each time. So when he emerged from the bath, the water rushing and pouring from his ears and hair while he shook it off, he wasn't surprised to hear the same words. "Of course you're still in here. Come on out, we're going to be late." He stayed silent and sighed in the slight disappointment he always felt when he had to leave. He stood, revealing his formfitting black and purple swimsuit that he nearly permanently had on.

Dully blinking, he silently left Makoto—also the fourth member of their swimming team—to his own devices while he went to go cook as he had not yet had his serving of Mackerel and toast. He dressed lazily in the uniform that covered his average frame and left his raven hair messy, leaving his house with his friend to go to school as he munched on his Mackerel sandwich and drifted in and out of concentration from conversing with Makoto. His eyes drifted to the seaside and his eyes gained the familiar twinkle they always did when near a particularly large body of water. He sighed, wanting to swim again.

When Makoto's voice tore into his concentration—or rather daze—he heard, "Ah, and did you hear? Gou-chan's brother is coming to our school. Gou-chan said we might be able to meet him! Wouldn't that be nice?" Makoto blabbered on and Haruka couldn't help but think, 'Gou has a brother? I've never heard about him.' He polished off his breakfast and felt the familiar swipe of Makoto's gentle fingers getting the crumbs from the corners of his lip, as if he couldn't do it himself. Though, he entertained Makoto and his mother hen ways until they got to school and sat in their respective seats. He also saw Nagisa and Rei having their usual encounter with each other. Nagisa with a smile while Rei blushed and was affronted. The class filled out and Haruka stared out the window… to the pool. It was warm out so they would be able to swim again. His eyes began to twinkle again and he was off in his own little world. Perhaps he would leave early today… he would be hopelessly not concentrated in this class anyway so what was the point in staying? The only thing he really looked forward to was swim practice.

As he gazed out the window, he heard something that made him start to come back to the world of the living… a voice… It was barely scraping at the edge of his consciousness but it bugged him in some way. He felt weirdly… curious. After all, it wasn't every day that Haruka was snapped from his daze and unable to go back. Expressionless, blue eyes turned to the front of the classroom where his eyes met a tall and muscular body that was clad in their uniform. His jacket was tied at his waist, his tie was slightly undone and his shirt untucked but it didn't look bad on the other. His eyes traveled from his large school shoes up his long legs and torso to see the other's scowling face. His sharp red eyes glared predatorily around the room though his brow didn't look too strained, as if this were a natural expression for him to have. Amakata-sensei—also known as the swimming club's sponsor—eagerly asked the intimidating teen who towered over her to introduce himself. He gave a sigh as if introducing himself was terrible trouble.

Then he spoke. "I'm Matsuoka Rin. I recently transferred from Australia. I have a girly name, but I'm a boy. Please take care of me." It was the same voice that broke him from his daze before. It was dull but deep and smooth… his mind itched a bit as he felt a stab of déjà vu in his mind. He barely frowned at the feeling especially when he caught a glimpse of that burgundy hair and fierce, red eyes… who did he remind him of? Almost immediately he heard a voice in the back of his mind say, 'It's Kou! Not Gou! Gou is a boyish name but I'm a girl!'

Ah… I see. So he's Gou's brother. Who would've thought that they would be in the same class… and judging by the name… "Okay Matsuoka-kun! You can go and sit next to Nanase-kun!" Amakata-sensei said, and he saw the other look around, irritation showing on his face that he couldn't find him. Haruka stared at him while he looked over him completely, his figure a bit tense since he obviously couldn't see Haruka raise his hand. Though that's what Haruka would usually do, he was a bit entertained by the other's expression. It had switched over so quickly from dull to irate that it was obvious that the other was a bit impatient. After a minute or two of staring and pretending he didn't hear Amakata-sensei calling for him to raise his hand, he finally raised his hand and red eyes glared at him, irritated. His eyebrow quirked a bit, having never seen that expression on someone's face when they saw him.

Matsuoka rushed to his seat and sat next to him, not exchanging a greeting of any kind throughout the entire class period. When lunch finally came, he left without a word and by the time Haruka came out of his daydream about swimming, the other had disappeared. Haruka mused that that possibly meant that the other didn't like him. Suddenly a huge body stepped in front of him, one he knew to be Makoto and the smaller bodies next to him were Rei and Nagisa, who asked him to lunch like usual. He silently nodded, having nothing better to do and the roof was the ideal place to view the pool so they went to meet up on the roof.

"Ne, ne, Haru-chan! Did you hear? Rin-chan is Gou-chan's sister! Although I wasn't paying much attention when she talked about it, I could immediately tell when he came in the classroom. They look just alike! But, wow! Australia?" Nagisa said in awe and Haruka was tempted to tell him not to add the suffix "chan" onto his name and make it even girlier than it already was but he knew the effort was fruitless seeing as the blonde would probably say something like, 'but Haru-chan is Haru-chan's name!' Meanwhile Makoto nodded and continued,

"Yeah I was a bit surprised about that too. Do you think he was serious?"

Rei jumped in and said, "I think he was serious. The way he looked kind of gave off the 'I'm not a kidder' type of effect." Rei shrugged and turned to the side to jump a bit. A shadow suddenly loomed over them and they turned to see Matsuoka standing over them with a bored look on his face.

"A-Ah… Matsuoka-san, w-we—" Makoto tried but he was interrupted by Matsuoka as he asked,

"You know my sister?" That low voice strangely sounded a bit… strained. It was almost unnoticeable but Haruka heard in and it made Haruka look up to the other more directly.

"Ah! Yes! She's our manager Rin-Rin!" Nagisa said excitedly, not able to read the mood. An imperceptible huff came from his lips and he turned away from them but not before he turned back to Nagisa and glared murderously at him, making the blonde pale a bit.

"Don't say my name so casually." He warned coolly and walked away. When he closed the door, Nagisa blew out a breath and pouted.

"S-Scary... are they really siblings? Gou-chan is so much less…" As he said that, they all remembered the training from hell and the times she got on her period but still had to come to practice… "N-No, they're definitely siblings…"

As they talked about Matsuoka, the raven male decided to tune things out and not listen. He turned to look at the pool as usual and blocked out the rest of the world. Yeah, most definitely he would be skipping the next few classes.

...

The raven hurriedly stripped, unbuttoning his shirt and undoing his pants to reveal his swimsuit before running to jump in. A certain green-haired teen stared at the graceful swimmer as he relaxed in what seemed to be his natural environment. A smile swept across Makoto's face and he chuckled. He knew Haru wouldn't be able to stay away from the pool for much longer. It was Haru after all. The teen practically couldn't live without water.

Makoto watched for a while as he twisted and turned through the water, looking as natural as a sea creature. He looked almost like he was dancing in the pool, his black hair swishing with the will of the liquid and that utterly calm look on his face. Though it was distorted from where he stood, he knew what kind of expression would be on his face. He knew the other was probably thinking, 'Finally. Water.' Laughing again, he left the pale boy to his devices, collecting his clothes and turning into the locker room. He wanted to hurry and swim with him already, watching him wasn't enough.

He hurriedly pulled his own swimsuit on his muscular body and showered before getting his and Haru's goggles and swim caps. This was a normal occurrence for him. He helped the other out with nearly everything he did. He worried about him and he smiled when he was finally smiling. Well, as much as Haru would smile. Though, his vivid blue eyes, twinkling as they studied the waves were enough for him and brought a grin to his own face. He couldn't help being enraptured with the other teen. He was utterly captivating.

As embarrassingly obvious as it was, Makoto was indeed in love with Haru. Though he knew he was safe to confess seeing as the other could really be dense. He remembered just a few weeks ago with perfect clarity… his words. He'd told him thank you for being there for him. And though he wanted to soak up all the pride and ecstasy just from hearing the other's appreciation, the other just as quickly had mentioned Nagisa and Rei. Although he couldn't get too disappointed. They were a team after all and Haru was as dense as ever. But to Makoto, that only made him a bit cuter. That innocence. Makoto would never dream of taking advantage of it.

He watched the aquatic teen surface finally and held his hand out as he always did, ready to pull the other out. He'd never relinquish his spot to anyone else. "Good job Haru! You were graceful as always!" He laughed at the other's blank expression while he took Makoto's hand and was pulled from the water. He watched the other shake his hair dry, Makoto felt himself staring at the other's effortless beauty as always. He always thought the other's beauty was mysterious. He was so slender, yet he was muscled in all the right places, he spent all of his time swimming, yet he was as pale as the moon… though he had no expression on his face, Makoto blushed if he admired too long. He was truly amazing.

"I don't need you to tell me I did a good job." Ah, and that coolness in the face of compliments was always adorable to Makoto as well. He only grinned in response and watched the other as his attention was suddenly taken somewhere other than the pool. Frowning a bit, as he thought something weird must be going on behind his back to get Haru's mind off of water, he turned around to see Matsuoka Rin leaning on the gate with a scowl. He didn't understand why the other seemed to always be scowling but didn't dwell on it further as it really wasn't his issue whether he was grumpy or not.

"Where's Gou?" his calm voice said in an uncaring manner. Haru ignored the other and he saw Matsuoka stiffen a little before rolling his eyes. He chuckled a little. Haru wasn't the most social guy ever, it always took others off guard when he just turned away from them, not wanting to make an effort to answer their question.

"Ah, Gou-chan just went to go do so—"

"Onii-chan! You're here! Ah! Makoto-kun, its Kou! Not Gou!" She said in an upset manner and Matsuoka blinked in a bored way.

"You're still on that, Gou?" He asked before shaking his head, "Whatever, I came like you asked me to. But, I've already met these guys before so do I still have too—"

"You've met them before? Mou, Onii-chan you weren't mean were you?" Matsuoka rolled his eyes but looked away from Gou for a long moment before saying.

"Absolutely… not…" Rei and Nagisa came out as they heard the terrible lie and they both laughed, Nagisa more loudly and boisterously than Rei. Meanwhile Gou, just sweat a bit in embarrassment for her Onii-chan. He always had been bad at lying to her. He'd normally ignore her before lying. More importantly, Gou saw her brother flinch and glare fiercely at the others who quieted down, but weren't as scared as when it first happened.

"Ah… Onii-chan, i-it's okay. I'm s-sure they knew you didn't mean a-any harm…" Gou defended her brother before he got angry and she had to deal with his sulking later. "Ah! But, I wanted to introduce you myself! Please…" She asked in a puppyish way that made Matsuoka flinch, his eye twitching.

"Ah, whatever. Go ahead." Nagisa laughed again at Matsuoka.

"Rin-chan, you sure are funny! Ha-ha! I thought you were so scary at first but, ha-ha, you totally crumbled under your sister!" Nagisa fell to the ground laughing as he made fun of Matsuoka more who did not look pleased.

Haruka had been glancing at the redhead the entire time. He turned his head the first time he asked where Gou was out of curiosity mostly. The other was a bit strange to him… he didn't get him. He understood everyone else and was almost never shocked by what they did. Makoto was a caring, family and friend loving type who has a tendency to care for the defenseless. Nagisa was childlike, stubborn, and blunt but also had a sadistic streak that he often showed when he messed with Rei. Rei was a serious type but also hadn't had many friends before due to his strange and analytical nature so when he was embraced by all of them he wanted to become a part of their team and treasured those bonds more than anything else. And Gou was a person who was nosy, easily flustered, and boyish though she didn't want to admit it and she obviously cared for her brother.

But Matsuoka… Matsuoka was strange and this was coming from him who nearly no one could understand. He wasn't as easy to understand because he kept being so inconsistent. It made Haruka not want to find out more about him but it did bother him a bit and for that he didn't answer his question. Though the other only confused him more with his reaction. He sighed while Gou introduced her brother for the second time. Though when he glanced up that time… Matsuoka wasn't staring at anyone, he wasn't glaring at anyone… and he didn't look bored. He stared at the pool with what Haruka could notice was interest. He didn't look like him when he admired water yet he didn't look casual with his stare either. He looked strange. However, before he could discern Matsuoka's look, he turned and left, telling Gou that he would pick her up later.